


falling next to you

by dreamerfound



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Moving In Together, Recovery, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 15:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13460694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamerfound/pseuds/dreamerfound
Summary: Kate is hurt and Clint won't leave her side.They almost don’t let him ride in the back of the ambulance with her...





	falling next to you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [geckoholic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckoholic/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this treat. I saw that you liked Clint/Kate and had to write it for you :)

They almost don’t let him ride in the back of the ambulance with her. 

“Sir, are you family?”

He’s still covered in her blood and for a moment he forgets what words are. His arms feel empty without the weight of her. He’d held her until the ambulance came. He looks up from his bloody hands into the face of the too young paramedic. He’s repeating his words now. Clint can see the shape of them on the man’s chapped lips. Clint nods. “Yes, family.” Because anything else would be a lie. They let him on and he grasps Kate’s limp hand. They roll away, sirens blaring.

***

A cranky nurse with a pinched face and drawn in eyebrows tries to make him leave when he can’t properly define his relationship with Kate. A different nurse recognizes him and whispers in the cranky nurse’s ear. She frowns up at him and then stalks off. The new nurse looks at him with something like sympathy, puts her fist on her chest and makes the sign for sorry. They leave him alone after that.

He stays by her side. Sleeping in her hospital room, when he can sleep, eating when someone takes pity on him and brings food. Hooked up to machines with tubes and wires, Kate looks small. Clint’s heart breaks. It’s touch-and-go for the first couple days and all he can think is that she can’t die because the world would cease to exist if she did. It dawns on him that he loves her. Really loves her.He hopes it’s not too late.

Kate wakes up snarky and Clint feels lighter than he has in days. She looks at the tubes and wires coming out of her. “Really? You couldn’t have just gotten an extra big bag of frozen peas?” Her voice is hoarse and it’s the best thing he’s heard in days. It makes him grateful he bothered putting his hearing aids in.

***

Two weeks later they let him bring her home. She’s weird about letting him take care of her at first. They share his bed. He insists. He tells her it’s so he’s there for whenever she needs him, but he can no longer sleep without her close. He knows he should have protected her better. It was on him that she was this badly hurt. He vows to himself to never let it happen again.

***

“It’s not your fault dummy.” 

It’s afternoon and he’s just brought her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He looks at the sandwich, did he make it wrong? How do you screw up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? 

Kate takes the sandwich from him. “Not the sandwich, the whole me getting hurt thing -- that’s not your fault.”

“Uh...I didn’t say that it was?” He was pretty sure he’d never said it aloud. Not in her presence anyways.

“I know how you think, Hawkeye - when you think.” She laughs and it brings a smile to his face.

“Hey!” He tries to act offended but fails to pull it off. He sits down on the couch next to her and she offers him a bite of her sandwich. He takes a small bite and leans back to watch her finish it off. She’s mostly better now. Not in good enough shape to be running around on rooftops yet, but she’ll get there. He puts his arm around her when she leans in and she puts her head on his chest. They’ve been getting closer. They’ve yet to put it into words, what they are to each other. Clint’s not sure they need to.

They continue sharing a bed long after Kate’s finished healing. Later boxes of her stuff appear and Clint doesn’t say a word as he watches her unpack and put her things away next to his.


End file.
